I Did It

The other weekend, in the midst of an quickly cancelled trip across state lines because of the weather, I decided to do a little look-a-back at the ol' blog-arino.  And guess what?  It's my freakin' anniversary!  I've been doing this thing for three years; hard to believe.

I started this blog because, well because everyone else was doin' it and I was all like, I'm just as good as they are!  But over the years, it's sort of become an easyish way for me to keep a scrap book for my kids without actually doing the work of keeping a scrap book.  I'm a sucker for any stories about my childhood and I think it will be pretty amazing for my children to have this opportunity to look back at what was going on in real-time... okay, well maybe not real, real-time, but close enough to real time.

It also allows me to do this for the sake of my blog; like taking pictures, going overboard at parties and read tons of other blogs and get inspiration- all without feeling guilty.

This next year is sure to be even better and I'm excited to continue my blogging journey.

It's My Favorite

Christmas time is my favorite; probably because it's right before my birthday, everyone is in joyous spirits and the house is filled with kind of beautiful things.  Decorating is crazy though... advice from parents of older children, when does the fighting/ornament breaking/disregard for the lovely ambiance that I'm working hard to set up- stop?  Is it around 4 years old?  'Cause that'd be nice.  Every year I expect that the boys will be too delighted by the sounds from the TV seasonal music station that their fighting will be temporarily put on hold, but that's not happening.  But... it is getting better.  Only a handful of smashed ornaments and one or two meltdowns each; I'm cool with that.

We had a few firsts this year: first train set, which was immediately broken and still remains off the tracks in the family room, first Christmas in our new house and first time that Cullen took a real interest in helping to set things up- more man business as he would call it, I suppose.  The results are perfect- for us.  I love all of the planning and time it takes for this to take shape, it's a nice way to spend time together, even if it is mixed with some fighting and crying, because it's what we do and how we do.

Giving Thanks

Let me tell you how these three are what I am most thankful for. 

Quite frankly, I don't care if everyone else on Earth says that about their children and husband, 

I feel blessed to be on that band wagon to begin with.

Happy Thanksgiving 2013!

Fall Photo Shoot 2013

For several years, we've taken the time to document our children outdoors during a beautiful time of year.  This year, we headed out to a chic landscaping store, because we had a gift card, and I happened to grab our nice camera; while it certainly didn't start off being our Fall Photo Shoot 2013 that's totally where it ended... and I'm thrilled.

And keep an eye out for Arden's blue car, which managed to sneak into quite a few pictures.

Front Yard Sports

There are times when I feel terribly guilty for not doing things for my children; already, I'm thinking that I should have signed Cullen up for fall Soccer, or T-Ball or some sort of sport and that now his life is not well-rounded because of my ineptitude.  Breathing.  Breathing.  Breathing.  Then I tell myself, there's nothing wrong with holding off until he's a little older and in the meantime, he can learn some of the fundamentals from us.

Here are some of the fundamentals I'm trying to teach him about playing soccer:
1. No pushing/shoving.
2. Don't fall down anytime some comes near you with the ball.  Physical comedy is kind of his jam right now.
3. Kicking is done with the feet, not the hands.

What I learned after watching about 20 minutes of the impromptu soccer game is that just because I didn't sign him up for organized sports doesn't mean that I should be selling him or us short; front yard sports are just as good as the real deal.  Actually, they might be more fun; no rules, no lines, just kids being kids.  And get this, he's kinda good.  He's certainly fearless about approaching someone for the ball and his confidence in his skills is awesome; to him and me, he's the world's greatest.

We've Got A Nice Little Spot

There are some days when I have these big plans and we end up trekking 45 minutes to Ikea and then running home grabbing lunch and putting the boys down for naps, then we go to Michaels and Target and a how can we forget about that quick jaunt into Home Goods... our weekends have become a blurry mess of errands and spur of the moment trips that involve packing everyone into the car and driving somewhere.  Recently though, I've just wanted to stop, collect ourselves and step back from our busy lives, particularly on the weekends and relax.  We're finally in the home of our present and our future, talking almost daily about the fires we're excited to build in the fire place, our boys are growing up so quickly and learning new things daily; just the other night Cullen turned to me and said, "What does that man have on his armpits?"  (for the record, it was hair and he thought that was hilarious) and I realize that I've got to do better at saying no to an almost second nature habit of cramming in things that I want to do on the weekend, but don't need to do.

I need to do family time.  I need to do walks to recharge my energy and our family energy.  We have a pond in our neighborhood that we walked to for the first time last weekend, and I've come to realize that I need to do this pond more often.  Those are my needs that I've somehow over looked that I'm trying to get back into focus.  After I got home and looked at the pictures of the boys enjoying the trip to the pond, I realize that they need this too, they need this nice little spot to stretch their legs and enjoy the fish that create ripples as they swim over to the pond's edge.

We all got this chance to have a nice little spot, not just at the pond, but also in our lives right now and I'm going to make it a priority to enjoy it more.